


Support

by JantoOwnsMySoul



Category: Torchwood
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-12
Updated: 2015-12-12
Packaged: 2018-05-06 07:55:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5408948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JantoOwnsMySoul/pseuds/JantoOwnsMySoul
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Late one night,Jack finally tells Ianto about the Year That Never Was.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Support

**Author's Note:**

> Based on a prompt from Tumblr: "Could I request a fic where Jack tells Ianto about his time on the Valiant during the year that never was??"
> 
> Yes, yes you can. :) This took me longer than any other fic I've written so far, it was really an emotional roller coaster.

Ianto awoke to the sounds of sobbing from the office above him. The empty space next to him told him that Jack was no longer in bed, and the fact that it was the middle of the night meant there was no one else in the Hub. So his mind informed him that it could, in fact, only be Jack crying. 

He'd never seen Jack break down before. He was always the strong one, the one who held others while they soaked his shirt with their tears. Oh, he'd seen the immortal shed a tear or two, but never like this. He wondered if it had anything to do with those months Jack had been off with the Doctor. No one had been able to get much out of Jack, he'd just say that the Doctor hadn't fixed him and that was that. Ianto suspected it had been longer for Jack than it had been for them, but he'd left it alone. He certainly didn't want to cause any more pain for his lover and settled for just being the silent support he so often required.

Crawling out of bed, he slowly started up the ladder into Jack's office. He didn't want to startle the other man, he knew from experience that he would just slam his shields back into place and they'd never get anywhere. It was time for Jack to stop keeping it inside and for Ianto to stop pretending he wasn't well aware something was very wrong. Otherwise, they'd never advance their relationship past the friends with a very large amount of benefits stage. Ianto was tired of that if he was honest with himself. He'd had enough time to heal after Lisa now, and was ready to try a real relationship with Jack, who'd rapidly become the center of his universe.

“Jack? Are you ok?” he calmly asked once he was close enough not to spook the immortal. Jack looked up at him, tears still pouring down his cheeks. “No. And I haven't been for a long time.” His voice was barely a whisper and had the croak of one who'd been crying for a while. Suddenly, Ianto was pulled down onto Jack's lap and the stuffing was being squeezed out of him. He managed not to squeak in surprise and allowed Jack to take his comfort.

Once the grip holding Ianto had been loosened enough for him to get his breath, he was finally able to make his move to find out what had happened to Jack. “Can you tell me about what happened? I know it must have been while you were off with the Doctor. I mean, I've had a feeling since you came back that it was longer for you. You acted like you hadn't seen us in years.”

Jack laughed, a brittle and slightly bitter thing, and smiled grimly. “I guess I should really tell someone. And you're the only person I'd trust to hear it and not judge me. It was a year. A year that never was. We fixed it all. Well, the Doctor and Martha did. I couldn't really do much. I was busy being murdered and otherwise tortured. I was pretty useless to the cause, really.”

Horrified, Ianto gasped. He'd known that something awful had happened, but he'd never imagined it would be that bad. Questions whirled though his mind: How was Jack sane? Was he sane? Why was the Doctor not making sure he was ok? Who was this Martha? Who had tortured him for an entire year? He decided to start with the last one, that seemed most important at the moment.

“Who did that to you, Jack? It obviously wasn't the Doctor, if he saved the world in the end. Besides, even though he was enemy number one at One, no one ever thought he'd be capable of that.”

Jack took a moment before launching into the extended version of the tale. “Well, you know the Doctor is a Time Lord, right? That must have been in your training when you started.” Ianto nodded and settled in to listen.

“The Doctor isn't the only one left. We thought they'd all died in a war, but there was one left. We just happened to find him at the end of the Universe. See, I didn't even mean to leave with the Doctor, believe me. Otherwise, I would have said something. I'd have never just left you. Or the others, but especially you. The TARDIS was going back into the time vortex, and I leapt onto the side. It was a desperate attempt to keep him from leaving without speaking to me. And it worked. But the TARDIS, she didn't like me being on her. Because I'm wrong. That's what the Doctor said. I'm a fixed point, I shouldn't be.”

Jack knew he was rambling, but that was the only way he was going to make it though the story without breaking down. Luckily, Ianto was hanging on every word, needing to know.

“So she took us to the end of the Universe. To try and dislodge me. But I was clinging on too well. Even if I was dead. So we land. And we find these people. They're the last people left. Everyone else has died. But this little group is still hanging on. Even though they're being hunted by a group of mutants. They live in a military base type place. And we end up in there with them. So we don't end up lunch. And there's this guy, this funny little old professor guy. The Doctor loves the guy, he's quirky and likes to tinker. And so he tries to help him fix this thing he's invented. See, the main base is a spaceship. They're trying to get it to take off so they can go to this place they think will save them all. Utopia. And the Doctor fixes it. Because he's brilliant. And everyone is celebrating, thinking we're going to this place. But see, the professor has a pocket watch. Which Time Lords can use to fool people if they want to. They put their....I guess you'd say essence? into it and pretend to be a normal human. They don't even remember who they really are. Not until the watch is opened.   
Well, once the Doctor saw, he got excited. He thought another of his race had survived. And one had. The Master.”

Jack had to stop momentarily, both to take a drink and to prevent himself from bursting back into tears at the mere thought of the Master. He was determined to finish, both for his sake and Ianto's. He knew he'd been difficult since his return, and Ianto really deserved better from him. Jack wanted normal, especially after the Year, and he wanted it with Ianto. They'd never have true normality, not with their jobs, but they could pretend when they got the occasional chance.

“Right, so the Master was once the Doctor's best friend. When they were kids. But he'd gone the insane, evil mastermind route. So the TARDIS was captured, but the Doctor had jammed the settings. It could only travel between when around the time I left here and when we were. We were only able to get back because the Doctor fixed my Vortex Manipulator. So the Master ended up stuck here. And he plotted. He became Harold Saxon.”

Ianto couldn't keep himself from interrupting. “You mean that nutter who was elected Prime Minister and killed the President of the US? That was a Time Lord??!!”

“Yes. He was. He used mind control to get elected. And that's just what you remember. The very end and the very beginning of the Year. He brought through these creatures, from the end. They were made from those last surviving people. He'd turned the TARDIS into a machine that allowed paradoxes. So they could kill their ancestors without preventing their own existence. And they did. They did the Master's bidding, killing billions. Of course, there were pockets of resistance. And Martha, clever Martha, she was the Doctor's companion, she managed to escape with my vortex manipulator. She found those pockets. And she spread the word of the Doctor. All over the world. She walked it. She was amazing. And when she returned, they used all those people to defeat the Master. The Doctor was able to use the mind control system against him. All I did was keep the Master occupied. Once I was released, I went and destroyed the Paradox Machine. Everything reverted to the point you remember. Only those of us on the Valiant remember what happened.”

Ianto was stunned. This was beyond belief. But in their line of work, you never assumed that something was impossible. “So what happened to the Master? I mean, really. I know what the 'official' story is.”  
“He was shot. By his own wife. And the Doctor, you know what he did? He mourned. He actually begged him to regenerate. Because the Master refused. He wanted to die, just out of spite! The world went to shit and Martha and I suffered for a year because of that monster. But it didn't matter to the Doctor.”

Ianto was of two minds. He half hoped the Doctor never showed his face around there again. The also half hoped he would so that the punch that was waiting for him could be delivered.   
His questions had been answered finally, but he really didn't know what to do with the knowledge. How much would he be able to help Jack when he was this damaged? He wasn't a psychiatrist or even a counselor. Jack obviously had PTSD, and it was all the Doctor's fault. 

He'd worry about that later. For now, they both needed to try and get some sleep. They were due a day of heavy rift activity and he knew that they needed all the rest they could get. 

“Right. Come on then. Let's go back to bed. The others will be here in a few hours, can't have them scandalized by seeing us cuddling in your office.” Ianto stood up and then pulled Jack up from the chair. They climbed back down into the bedroom and resumed their normal position on the bed, Jack's arms wrapped around Ianto's middle from behind. 

Ianto dropped off to sleep quickly, despite the emotional bombshells, he'd been exhausted. Jack waited until he could tell the younger man was asleep. He knew every sound Ianto made and what stage of slumber it designated. 

Jack moved his mouth to whisper in Ianto's ear.“Thank you for listening. You'll never know how much you mean to me. You make this very long life worth living.” Jack snuggled in as close as possible and closed his eyes.


End file.
